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Posted in: news

16th January 2017

Meeting the SDGs a US $12 Trillion Business Opportunity

Business leadership is urgently required to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, but the business case for action, while compelling, has been somewhat difficult to quantify. No more. A report released today by our partners the Business and Sustainable Development Commission reveals the huge economic prize awaiting companies which help to realize the SDGs by 2030.

By pursuing strategies aligned with the goals in just four key areas studied by the report, there is the potential to create more than US$12 trillion in business value and more 380 million jobs around the world by 2030 - equivalent to 10 percent of forecasted GDP.

The report outlines 60 'hotspots' where the market opportunities are most competitive, and finds that first movers in the next 5 - 15 years will reap the biggest benefits.

The need for business to take action on issues such as climate change, inequality, and combatting corruption has never been more clear. Markets need a new operating system that works within safe planetary boundaries and does a better job of extending prosperity to all. The report lays out six ways to do this, contending that business needs to:

Build support for the Global Goals as the right growth strategy in your companies and across the business community

Incorporate the Global Goals into company strategy

Drive the transformation to sustainable markets with sector peers

Work with policy-makers to pay the true cost of natural and human resources

Push for a financial system oriented towards longer-term sustainable investment

Rebuild the Social Contract between citizens, government and business

Achieving the global goals is good for business and for the world at large. This report shows the tangible business case for realizing one of the greatest ambitions, and opportunities, of our time.

B Team Leaders Sharan Burrow, Bob Collymore, Mo Ibrahim, Arif Naqvi and Paul Polman are members of the Commission.